Locals play big part in North soccer victory

Robin Conn/Huntsville TimesHuntsville High's Kennedy Pope has two goals and an assist in the North's win over the South on Monday

HUNTSVILLE, AL - Two goals. Ninety-five seconds apart.

No, Kennedy Pope said Monday night, that had never happened to him before on the soccer field.

"It's the first time I've scored two that quickly," the Huntsville High senior-to-be said. "No doubt."

No doubt, too, who had the better boys team at John Hunt Park during the annual All-Stars Sports Week game. The North turned this futbol game into American football, scoring a touchdown and an extra point in a 7-1 rout of the South.

"We did have a lot of talent," Cullman coach John Drake said, "but we didn't expect 7-1."

It was evident from the start, though, that the North would be the aggressor. It scored the game's first goal a little more than four minutes in when eventual team MVP Alex Morton of Hoover easily beat an out-of-position Clinton Lothrop.

For the first 20-plus minutes, the majority of the action took place on the South side of the field.

"It seemed like right off we had a pretty strong connection," said Pope, who assisted Morton on the initial score. "We're all pretty familiar with each other."

That showed, particularly after the South's Costandinos Whitehead scored the equalizer 27:37 into the first half. Morton scored the second of his three goals four minutes later to put the North back ahead, and Mars Hill's Alex Stutts banged another one into the net four minutes after that thanks in part to a kind bounce off the top post.

There was no letup in the North in the second half, either, as it kept treating the South's keepers like a piñata at a 6-year-old's birthday party (the North would finish with a 23-8 shot advantage).

Nicholas Anagnostopoulos of Gulf Shores was in the game a grand total of 16 seconds before Sparkman's Steve Owens unloaded a quality shot on goal.

"I wasn't expecting that," Anagnostopoulos said.

Less than a minute later, Pope delivered another tough ball. Anagnostopoulos went perpendicular to the ground and appeared to make a nice stretch save, but the ball tumbled out of his arms and into the net.

"That was a pretty big letdown," the keeper said. "I went from feeling pretty good to pretty bad in a hurry."

Pope admitted "it didn't really feel like a goal," but the one he got shortly thereafter - following a perfect 40-yard-field-worthy pass from Oak Mountain's John Imwalle - made up for it. He easily beat a defenseless Anagnostopoulos with a shot to the right corner to put the North up 5-1.

"I liked that second one," Pope said.

The hits kept coming, too. Morton scored his third goal on Owens' second assist near the 54-minute mark and Austin's Samuel Dean finished the onslaught on a 40-yard laser from the left sideline.